I want to try to be more positive for the New Year. I recently attended a Bible Study group and someone mentioned an idea that I hadn't thought of before which I thought was great. Someone shared that while on retreat recently it was suggested that each participant write their own personal psalm. You could pick verses from traditional, biblical psalms that struck you and add your own verses or affirmations as well. I loved the idea and wrote one that I am saying each morning and evening. Part inspirational, part affirmation and part prayer, and like biblical psalms ,a personal psalm can strengthen faith and trust in God.
Interestingly, I am also attending a bible study with a group of women who are mostly Protestant. (I am Catholic.) They are a very welcoming group of women, who have formed a small but powerful community that studies Scripture and prays together. One of the women is a pastor's wife. There are some fallen away Catholics, in the group, who have been baptized (again, much to my surprise) in a Protestant Church. I try not to pry but it seems from what I can tell, that one of the reasons they left the Catholic Church is they wanted to be more rooted in the Bible and do more Scripture study. The Catholic Church should learn from that.
Every Catholic parish, (in my humble opinion) should have a weekly Bible Study group led by a knowledgable and trained catechist. There are excellent biblical commentaries available. Perhaps two studies, one for women and one for men. I'm aware that some parishes do, but not all.
And so, there is still much to do to evangelize in the modern world and some ideas are rather simple but highly effective.
NJA
